Flat tire advice

[eejoor]

Tip for those who have a spare tire and want to go off road: take a piece of wood with you and use the correct tire for the trip.
We are Curantly touring northern Sweden/Norway and Finland I This week we had a flat tire some hundred miles of the nearest house.
Prob 1: you can’t turn the fastenings bolts of the spare tire with a flat tire. You must lift the car to do this. I don’t like working under a suspended car.

Prob2: Seems the feet of the carelift is to small to support the weight of the cali so it sank in the soft ground. Luckily I had something to put under the bloody thing.

Prob 3 car now stable and lifted, it was stil too low to get the 235/55 standard tire from under the car. i needed something under the lift, but didn’t brought something. I used a rock instead but I don’t like working in lifted cars on rocks.

Prob 4: my fault, I know. I have non standard rims with different Size bolts. I brought a correct size spanner, but it turned out to be a low quality item wich bend when changing the wheel.

So lesson learned:
Bring a piece of wood to put under the car lift
Buy quality tools
Practice at home, not in the middle of nowhere.
Get the tires suited for the trip on ours the tread was good enough, but the carcass of the all season tires was to weak to withstand the sharp rocks

Save travels.

 

[kurienp]

Buy quality tools
Practice at home, not in the middle of nowhere.

Sage advise there! Hope you were able to get it sorted and now back on your journey

 

[Velma's Dad]

Get the tires suited for the trip on ours the tread was good enough, but the carcass of the all season tires was to weak to withstand the sharp rocks

Good point. There's a difference between an extra load (XL) tyre and a reinforced sidewall tyre (sometimes called a "van tyre" but there seems to be no standardised terminology). A reinforced tyre is what you want for driving regularly on stony roads. They often have a 'stepped' profile at the outer edges of the sidewall, where the carcass is reinforced.